South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts20—Arrangements if resident is absent or leaves
(1) Where a resident
is absent from a retirement village for a continuous period of at least 28
days, the resident is not liable to pay, in respect of a period of absence
after those 28 days, any amount in respect of any personal service that the
retirement village (or the administering authority) ceases to provide to the
resident because of his or her absence from the retirement village.
(2) Where a resident
ceases to reside in a retirement village—
(a) the
resident ceases to be liable to pay any amount (other than an amount that has
already accrued) in respect of any personal service that the
retirement village (or the administering authority) ceases to provide to the
resident after he or she leaves the retirement village; and
(b) the
administering authority must assume responsibility for the payment of any
maintenance or other recurrent charges in respect of the residence occupied by
the resident before he or she left the retirement village, or otherwise
payable by the resident in connection with the retirement village (other than
with respect to any amount attributable to a charge accrued before the
resident left the retirement village).
(3) If—
(a) an
administering authority must assume responsibility for maintenance or other
recurrent charges on account of a resident ceasing to reside in a
retirement village; and
(b) the
resident is entitled to the repayment (in whole or in part) of a premium,
then the administering authority is entitled, subject to subsection (4),
to recover from the resident an amount equal to the amount paid by the
administering authority for maintenance or other recurrent charges that would
otherwise have been payable by the resident over the prescribed period.
(4) An amount
recoverable under subsection (3)—
(a)
cannot exceed the amount of premium repayable to the resident (and if it would
exceed that amount, the amount recoverable under subsection (3) must be
reduced so as to equal the amount of premium repayable to the resident); and
(b)
cannot be recovered until the premium is due to be repaid to the resident (and
may then be recovered as a deduction from the premium repayable to the
resident).
(5) For the purposes
of subsection (3), the "prescribed period , in relation to a resident who
has ceased to reside in a retirement village, is—
(a)
unless paragraph (b) applies—the period of 6 months from the date
on which the resident ceased to reside in the retirement village; or
(b) if
the Tribunal has, on the application of the administering authority,
determined that the prescribed period for the purposes of that subsection
should in the circumstances of the particular case be longer than 6
months—the period determined by the Tribunal,
subject to the qualification that the prescribed period will in any event come
to an end when the residence occupied by the resident before he or she left
the retirement village is resold or relicensed, or otherwise taken over or
occupied by another resident.
(6) The Tribunal
should not make a determination extending the prescribed period under
subsection (5) unless the Tribunal is satisfied that in the circumstances
of the particular case it would be harsh and unreasonable to limit the
prescribed period to 6 months.
(7) If—
(a) a
resident is liable to pay any amount in respect of any other charges that may
accrue after he or she has ceased to reside in a retirement village; and
(b) the
resident is entitled to the repayment (in whole or in part) of a premium,
then the administering authority is not entitled to recover any such amount
until the premium is due to be repaid to the resident (and the amount may then
be recovered as a deduction from the premium repayable to the resident).
(8) If an
administering authority does not make 1 or more payments for which the
administering authority must assume responsibility under
subsection (2)(b) at the same time as the resident would have been
required to make the payments if he or she had remained in the
retirement village, the administering authority—
(a) must
keep a record of the outstanding payments, and identify them in any relevant
financial statements prepared for the purposes of this Act (while those
payments remain outstanding); and
(b) must
not attempt to recover the outstanding payments by increasing the maintenance
or other recurrent charges payable by other residents.
(9) In this
section—
"personal service" means a service provided to a resident individually (rather
than to residents generally).